Yankees Sign Ronny Rojas… What it Means for Shohei Otani

The New York Yankees are once again flashing some financial muscle on the international market but this time the team is being creative about it. In years past the Yankees have simply thrown money at their problems and for a long time it worked. Since the league has finally caught up financially the team can no longer do that due to financial and draft pick restrictions thrown down by a new set of collective bargaining agreements so New York has found a new way to get who they want on the IFA market. All large market teams get $4.75 million in IFA cap money to spend but the team can trade for an additional 75% of that $4.75 million from other teams, something the Yankees did many times this summer already. Now New York is using that new-found money to sign young players like the 16-year old shortstop Ronny Rojas they signed over the weekend but what does that mean for Shohei Otani?

First things first, Rojas. Rojas was signed to a $1 million contract and the 16-year old becomes the fourth international prospect to join the Yankees since the 2017-2018 signing period opened on July 2^nd joining Robert Chirinos, Everson Pereira and Anthony Garcia. Rojas was considered to be the 11^th best international prospect in this year’s signing period not including Otani who has yet to enter the fold as a prospect officially. The Yankees announced they would sign Rojas back in July but the team could not officially sign him until recently because Rojas was just 15-years old. The league will not allow an international prospect to sign until his 16^th birthday. What does this mean for the Yankees ability to make a run at Otani though?

In all honestly this has no bearing on the Yankees ability to make a serious run at Otani. The Yankees traded for a ton of international spending money this summer in three different trades including the Yefrey Ramirez trade to the Baltimore Orioles and the Sonny Gray trade with the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees still have somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-4 million left to make a run at Otani without going over their allotted pool of money. The problem for New York is teams like the Boston Red Sox have also traded for close to their 75% allotment as well giving the Yankees some stiff competition for the latest Japanese import.

Having Chirinos, Pereira, Garcia and Rojas is great and it gives the Yankees another wave of future reinforcements to develop and look forward to. Having those four and a shot at Otani though almost seems unfair for the rest of the league so here’s to getting greedy, officially signing Rojas and also getting Japan’s Babe Ruth. 

Meet a Prospect: The Four IFA’s in the Top 50 from 2017

The International signing period for international free agents opened up on July 2 like it does every season and like every season a flurry of activity happened on day one. The Yankees had been under spending restrictions for the past two signing periods after going nuts on IFA’s in 2014 but in 2017 there would be no such spending restrictions for New York. The Yankees came out in a big way this week signing four of the Top 50 prospects on this year’s IFA market. Let’s meet them. This is Meet a Prospect: the Everson Pereira, Roberto Chirinios, Anthony Garcia and Ronny Rojas Edition.

Everson Pereira is an outfielder out of Venezuela that the New York Yankees signed for a cool $1.5 million. Pereira was named the 4^th best prospect from this year’s class according to Ben Badler and Baseball America due to his great speed, strong arm and above average defense. Pereira has a short, fluid swing that many see developing power as he grows into his body. Pereira puts the ball in play, takes his walks and uses his legs to wreak havoc on the base paths once he gets there.

Roberto Chirinios is a shortstop who is also out of Venezuela that the Yankees organization added for $900,000. Chirinios was ranked as the 20^th best prospect to come out of this class according to Ben Badler and Baseball America although right now it’s unclear whether Chirinios will be able to stick at short.

Anthony Garcia is an outfielder from the Dominican Republic that will begin his professional career with the Yankees organization after agreeing to sign for $450,000. Garcia was ranked 28^th overall in this season’s class by Ben Badler and Baseball America.

Ronny Rojas hasn’t officially signed with the Yankees since he is just 15-years old but will when he turns 16-years old in August of this season. Rojas was the 11^th best prospect from this season’s class according to Baseball American for his fluid motions and strong throwing arm at the shortstop position. Rojas is originally from the Dominican Republic.

As a side note the Yankees also signed Dominican outfielder Stanley Rosario for $300,000 and Dominican shortstop Miguel Marte for $200,000 in a set of relatively minor deals for the organization. Not to say these young men can’t grow into something more, there are countless instances where the Yankees and many teams found lightning in a bottle with prospects after signing them for $300,000 or less, but neither were ranked in the Top 50 according to Baseball America.